IoT technology for healthcare

The cost of healthcare is one of the burning problems in the economy. A significant part of this entails the use of technology to improve longevity, quality of life, and, of course, healthcare cost containment. Medical technology devices for diagnostics, medical procedure assistance, and medicine and service delivery are among the technological domains. A high-cost area is one that provides healthcare at the lowest possible price. All of these are directly benefiting from IoT technology in order to improve outcomes and lower costs.

Here are a few of the popular areas in healthcare IoT for 2020:

Robotics

In healthcare, robotics are not new, and many of today’s robotics already use integrated, smart, linked IoT technologies to monitor system performance, enable human aided control, and collect and process health sensor data. The breadth of robotic assistance capabilities is predicted to develop and become increasingly complex and intelligent by 2020.

Healthcare institutions can not only save money by assisting with patient monitoring, but they can also provide better care to their patients. Robotics are one approach to fill the gap on routine processes, given the dearth of qualified healthcare workers and those in connected health services. In such cases, IoT technology is critical in allowing the healthcare institution to collect and apply intelligence about the state of the patient’s health, as well as deploy other resources as needed to help with urgent medical difficulties.

Things like sample routing and consumable supply are relatively straightforward and common aspects of facility management. Expect to see a rise in the usage of robots for such tasks. This activity must also be monitored and connected with other health and supply management systems.

Monitoring and sensing of health

The ageing of the population is one of the most pressing issues confronting many societies. Healthcare, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities are well-known for their high costs. The ability to keep the elderly population safe at home for as long as possible is a cost-cutting and quality-of-life improvement potential. This is an area where great progress is already being made and where IoT technology can play a key role as an enabler. Many firms are now working on various aspects of the solution, such as wearable devices that monitor vital signs, ambient sensing, and movement and activity tracking. All of these fields rely heavily on perceiving, communicating, and developing suitable reaction actions. These have previously been viewed as one-off solutions. In these areas, progress is still being made. The most significant area for improvement, however, is the integration of all sensing and monitoring into integrated systems with intelligence to ensure that persons who live at home are not simply abandoned in their homes.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Much of today’s technology is focused on obtaining precise data and developing AI to respond to specific sensor responses. The aggregation of various bits of data and use of this data to intelligently anticipate the start of health issues or incidents will be the huge win from the IoT front end in 2020 and beyond. Although IT professionals should not expect leapfrog intelligence in 2020, it is reasonable to believe that such integrated systems will become more intelligent.

Pathogen surveillance and elimination

It is commonly recognized that germs can be found on surfaces and in the air in a healthcare facility’s environment. In order to avoid infection dissemination and dispersion, hospitals and health care facilities use strict cleaning and containment protocols. Despite best standards and protocols, infections persist in these facilities and have a nasty habit of moving from one location to another. There is a lot of work going on right now to build systems that can eliminate infections without utilizing chemical agents.

Those that use high-powered UV LED technology are among the new technologies. Fluorescent UV has been available for a long time, but legacy systems are not very long-lasting and their performance declines over time. UV pathogen destruction via LEDs is becoming more common, especially as the technology’s costs and performance increase. The Internet of Things (IoT) enters the picture as the deployment and tracking of such systems is integrated into facility infrastructure and processes.

Rapid detection of infections that are airborne or present in or on the human body is also a hot topic of investigation. There is also a big role for the Internet of Things in this. Developing low-cost IoT detection devices could allow diseases with specific genetic characterizations to be targeted and isolated. While still in its early phases and not yet suitable for widespread adoption, this technology holds the possibility of early disease diagnosis and isolation before patients are admitted to the hospital. Once infections are detected quickly by sensors or mobile devices, the data may be evaluated in a backend infrastructure to isolate sick individuals and intelligently map trends throughout the population and facility.

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